The welds were ground smooth, to give it as much as a factory look as possible. I know a lot will be hidden, but just feel it will be a better job.
The moment of truth !!! The underside of the chassis still needs welding, plating and dressing off, but it will need to be taken off the jig to do it, so we took the opportunity to fit everything up to see if it went together alright, and still lined up...... Fitted the Crown Vic front end first Very straight forward, and only took about 30 mins !! We were a bit apprehensive dropping the engine in, just a bit worried we had missed something. Luckily everything went in no problem, even the gearbox crossmember lines up on the original mounting holes, really pleased ! The only issue at the minute, is the engine appears to be sitting at too much of an angle, about 5 degrees or maybe 6?. It looks like we will have to lift the gearbox to correct it, but a little worried that it may mean modifying the tunnel to allow us to do that. Just needed to fit the body back on the chassis, and hope everything clears. Luckily it does, there is a slight problem with the windscreen wiper motor is touching the back of the engine, but once we lift up the gearbox, then this may just tilt the engine forward to give us some clearance.
Awesome fabrication work MinesGT!That Mod engine seems as big as a boss 9!Hope you don't have anymore clearance issues. Thanks for sharing pics and updates.
Thanks for the positive comments. Although we modified the chassis, and cut some of the plates, and tacked into place, we did have a friend help with the final welding
We decide it would be a good time to fit the front sheet metal, to check for hood (bonnet) clearance, and to see how it would look with some wheels fitted.\ Hopefully they will look a little like this when parked Started to play around with the ride height a little, but it looks like the 18's will suit the front, but look a little too small for the back The hood just clears the engine.... thank God !!, also we have some 20" tyres in the workshop, so might try those on the rear.........
The clearance in the back really doesn't look too bad, actually to my eye it is very close to what I have with stock magnums on mine... Perhaps the rims are workable with a different tire profile???
We had to space the rims, as they were rubbing on the chassis., its just the pictures don't show it too well. We just felt the 18" rim looked small, against the "big" body? After a little measuring, it looks like we could go with a 10.5" wide rim with the correct backspace, but maybe a 19 or 20 rim with 275 tyres. The wheels on the car at the minute are 8.5" wide with a 6.7" backspace....
i agree, I think those rear wheels needed to come outward more. Looks like a Hotwheels/Matchbox car! Totally kewl!
Not that I am aiming to spend more of your money... would modifying and fitting in a Crown Vic differential assembly from the same year help with the offset in/out at the rear??? I would imagine you are wider at the front than the '72 was originally (not that it is a bad thing).
I think you are right, it would definitely help match the wheel offset to the front, and if one was easily available, we would consider it. (Yes, the Crown Vic front end is approx 4" wider over stock). We will probably go with a deeper dish wheel at the back, as we are going for a more pro touring look.
Coincidence ! I am busy sorting out the photo's as we speak, and hopefully put a few more updates tomorrow. Thanks for the interest !!
We tried a mock up of the rear with a 20" tyre, and we think it is a big improvement over the "lost" 18". Wouldn't like to go bigger, so although no final decision has been made it looks like we will be going with either 19 or 20
